Harsh lesson for Greens

Hawick were given a brutal lesson on Saturday by Heriots as the reigning champions won 53-10, leaving the Greens in a tricky situation anchored to the foot of the BT Premiership table.

Hawick were overwhelmed over the course of the game against a Heriot’s side who used their physical and experienced front eight to keep the game tight and compact.

Hawick barely touched the ball, and when they did they were smothered by a defence out to prove a point after starting the season uncharacteristically with two losses.

Seven of the 10 points the Robbie Dyes did manage came when the game was already lost.

Neil Renwick, who like Lee Armstrong did an about-turn last week to return to the Greens after announcing he was leaving the club in the summer for Kelso, chipped over an early penalty.

That was as good as it got until Fraser Renwick’s touchdown for consolation points late on in the second half.

“It was not a good day for us,” said captain Bruce McNeil, who didn’t mince his words when describing his side’s failures.

“For the first 15/20 minutes it was fairly competitive but before we knew it we were down big. We were passive in everything we did from defence to attack. That performance wasn’t good enough from us.

“In terms of positives to take from the game, there weren’t many.

“The boys all know it wasn’t good enough and they are really hurting.

“We have now dug ourselves a bit of a hole with these three defeats so improvements are going to have to come thick and fast if we are to get out of this mess.”

It is still early but Hawick’s young players have discovered that the Premiership is an unforgiving beast, a competition where even the smallest mistakes and weaknesses are exploited, just ask Selkirk who managed a solitary win all last season on their way to relegation.

The Greens will be given further evidence of how hard winning in this league is with last season’s runners-up Ayr visiting Mansfield Park this weekend but do have what McNeil described as “winnable” games against Boroughmuir and Glasgow Hawks in consecutive weeks following Saturday.